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Fans of Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time need to check out this mythical fantasy series created by the BBC. Merlin takes on the Arthurian legend of the fellowship between the wizard Merlin and ‘the once and future’ King Arthur. An addictive and imaginative series led by a wonderful cast, Merlin is an epic medieval romp that only gets better and better. Rated one of the 10 best fantasy series of all time here at MovieWeb, Merlin is now available for viewers to stream for free.

Set in a time of mystery and magic, Merlin tells the story of the titular wizard in his early days in the kingdom of Camelot. At a time when magic and sorcery are forbidden, the young wizard is forced to hide his magical abilities as he works as a servant in the king’s castle. Assigned to assist an arrogant prince who will becomeKing Arthur,...

Just shy of a month into Donald Trump’s second presidency, Jeremy Strong is seeing “The Apprentice” in a new light.

In a new cover story with GQ, Strong spoke about how the themes of Ali Abbasi’s Trump origin story — for which he is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Trump mentor Roy Cohn — have taken on increased relevance to him, as he sees Trump’s behavior in office as a natural extension of the lessons that Cohn taught him in the 1980s.

“The film has become, to me, more of a horror movie. It takes on a different resonance, and is harrowing to see now. I really did feel like I could feel Roy Cohn hovering over the Capitol Rotunda a few Mondays ago, fist pumping,” Strong said. “So the movie has become scarier to me. Roy Cohn said, and I say it in the movie,...

“We should have gone to Bora Bora like the Pattersons,” says Delores (Sarah Goldberg) in Bubble & Squeak, writer-director Evan Twohy’s feature debut. A quirky, prescriptively surreal comedy in the vein of the late Jeff Baena, with a hefty debt to the two Sacha Baron Cohen Borat movies, it’s a very Sundance kind of funny that goes all in on a very bizarre premise. If you go with it, it will take you all the way, but for those with a low tolerance for cheerfully madcap bonkersness, its lean 97 minutes may well seem like an eternity.

The pre-credit sequence very quickly sets the scene. Delores and her husband Declan (Himesh Patel) are sitting in a nondescript, steely-gray office room, where they have been waiting for well over an hour. The two Americans are on honeymoon, preferring to go “off the beaten track,” and their wanderlust has taken them to a strange,...

Claire Danes earned a permanent place in many a television viewer's heart back in 1993 when, at the age of 14, she played Angela Chase on "Wicked" screenwriter (and writer of the stage musical's book) Winnie Holzman's short-lived ABC drama "My So-Called Life." It was rare to see a teenage character portrayed by an actor of the same age (Danes was actually a year younger than the 15-year-old Angela), and what a startling difference it made. Danes effortlessly conveyed the terror and elation of being a high school freshman in America, which meant she could go from heartbreakingly sympathetic to downright irritating on the turn of a dime. Such are teenagers. We were all there once.

Some of us also had the opportunity as teenagers to leave the communities in which we were raised and visit other cultures and countries. In retrospect, these were vital experiences that broadened our understanding of...

Prison escape stories have long seemed to capture our imagination because they speak to our love of antiheroes and underdogs, From Alexandre Dumas' 1846 novel, "The Count of Monte Cristo," to Sylvester Stallone's "Escape Plan" movies, we just love watching innocent people outwit their captors and escape to freedom.

Filmmakers have delivered a fairly steady stream of movies featuring a prison escape, and the best ones know that viewers thrive on the detailed planning, the struggle that immediately follows, and the ultimate catharsis for the characters. We've put together a list of 15 of the best prison escape movies, and while most are dramatic thrillers we managed to squeeze in some comedy, action, and sci-fi antics as well. They include films from Japan, France, and Australia, but it probably shouldn't surprise anyone that most come from the United States –- home to the highest number of incarcerated citizens in the world.

As Spanish film festivals go, few have demonstrated the mainstream clout and drawing power of this year’s Seville European Film Festival (Seff), which boasts one of its most audience-friendly lineups of stars and films to date.

Sevilla aims to bring the best in European cinematographic culture to the south of Spain for dialogues between new artists and recognized figures from the industry while also dedicating space to new media for cinematographic expression. Always a haven for independent and arthouse fare, the festival has broadened its program in recent years to include more mainstream titles and A-list guests. It’s an intentional trend that the festival’s team hopes to continue nurturing in future editions.

This year’s Official Selection jury features two European cinema legends, producer David Puttnam and Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons.

Irons is the more recognizable of the two, given his on-screen work in films such as...

Notorious hairdresser turned movie producer Jon Peters, whose notable credits include A Star is Born (1976), The Color Purple, and Batman, wants to make a movie about Donald Trump's July assassination attempt. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Peters shared his vision for the project that would start with Trump and President Joe Biden as children. If the project, which he says would be helmed by acclaimed director Oliver Stone (more on that later), comes to fruition, he'd like to see it land on Netflix.

"The story begins with Trump as a little boy and Biden as a little boy. And you start to see how Biden was obsessed with Trump, who was always movie-star good-looking and rich."

Stone has directed several politically focused films throughout his storied career, including JFK, Nixon, and W. Stone's impressive credits also include his Oscar-winning films Platoon, Midnight Express, and Born on the Fourth of July.

Three-time Oscar winner Oliver Stone has courted controversy with a series of technically ambitious, rabble rousing political dramas, chronicling the highs and lows of American history. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at all 20 of his narrative films, ranked worst to best (not including documentaries).

Born in 1946, Stone served in the Vietnam War before enrolling in NYU film school. He first came to prominence as a screenwriter, winning an Oscar for penning “Midnight Express” (Best Original Screenplay in 1978) before writing “Conan the Barbarian” (1982), “Scarface” (1983) and “Year of the Dragon” (1985). During this same period, he directed the low-budget horror films “Seizure” (1974) and “The Hand” (1981).

He emerged as a an A-list director when he was 40 years old with a pair of acclaimed war dramas released in 1986: “Salvador” and “Platoon.” Both earned him Best Original Screenplay nominations, while “Platoon,” which was based on his...

Two and a Half Men definitely raised his star value, but Charlie Sheen was already a big name in the acting business with several well-acclaimed projects under his belt. One such project was Platoon, which also starred Johnny Depp and was released in 1986. The concept of the movie itself was quite challenging, given that it was a war flick.

Charlie Sheen in Platoon || Credits: Orion Pictures

However, in order to perfectly capture the true essence of his role as a U.S. Army volunteer serving in Vietnam, Sheen had to scrub toilets. This, for sure, has to be the most unforgettable event in the actor’s life.

Charlie Sheen Had a Life-Altering Experience From Platoon That Even He Was Not For

Platoon, a 1986 war movie, was born from the genius of Oliver Stone and starred not only Charlie Sheen but also Pirates of the Caribbean actor Johnny Depp. The first of a trilogy,...

Exclusive: Last time we heard from Oliver Stone, he was in Cannes for a special screening of Lula, his documentary on the incredible comeback of Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio da Silva and his reemergence from a prison cell to the presidency when it was exposed by a hacker that he was the target of an effort to bring Lula down. The three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker said at that time he had one more ambitious narrative film he was hellbent on directing. He has just signed with Atlas Artists for representation in all areas to make that dream a reality.

Stone would not divulge what this project is, nor would his new rep team elaborate. Suffice to say it will have a strong point of view, as he has shown on an acclaimed resume that includes Salvador, Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, JFK, Heaven and Earth,...

The first season of Unstable ended about as unstably as possible: Ellis Dragon (Rob Lowe) vengefully set fire to his friend-turned-rival Jean’s (Christina Chang) car. Season 2 wastes no time diving into the consequences of that scorching decision — or more specifically, Ellis getting ready to deal with those consequences in the most Ellis way possible.

In the first four minutes of Unstable’s new season, which you can watch above, we find the eccentric tech billionaire role-playing prison life in his basement with his therapist, Leslie (Fred Armisen). Of course, Ellis’s son Jackson (John Owen Lowe) astutely points out just how ridiculous it is.

“I’ve always wanted to do a gritty, hard-hitting Midnight Express-type prison drama, and this is as close as I think I’ll ever get to come as an actor,” Rob Lowe tells Tudum with a laugh. “But to prepare for it — like my...

Sky History’s Greatest Prison Escapes with Billy Hayes continues with an examination of the Texas Seven escape on Monday, 15 July 2024, at 10 p.m. Billy Hayes, whose escape from a Turkish prison inspired the film Midnight Express, hosts this new documentary series. In this episode, Billy Hayes focuses on the infamous Texas 7, a […]

Greatest Prison Escapes with Billy Hayes: The Texas Seven...

What kind of music goes best with comedy? Even if you’ve never seen The Benny Hill Show, you know its silly, sped-up theme song. For years, funny movies would incorporate swinging jazz or playful orchestral tunes. Then, in the late 1970s, John Landis had the idea to tap acclaimed Oscar-winning composer (and friend) Elmer Bernstein to write a no-winking serious score for Landis’ outrageous Animal House. The juxtaposition worked perfectly, the onscreen hijinks accentuated by Bernstein’s soaring strings — almost as if the movie was pretending to be classy while the characters were thumbing their nose at the pomposity. Soon, other movies, like Airplane! (also scored by Bernstein), were doing the same thing, proving that what initially seemed like a bizarre notion for music in a comedy could actually be brilliant.

But times change, and one trend gets replaced by a new one. By the mid-1980s, several hit comedies contained a hit single.

When Bruce Lee died under mysterious circumstances in 1973 at age 32, the actor and martial artist left a hole in the action star firmament that seemed irreplaceable. That did not stop the Hong Kong film industry — and the rest of the world, for that matter — from trying anyway.

As Lee’s final (complete) film “Enter the Dragon,” released just six days after his death, became a worldwide box office phenomenon, “Bruceploitation” was born, enlisting look-alike performers to replace and imitate the trailblazing martial artist on screen. Decades after these copycat films deceived viewers — while still delivering some genuinely thrilling fight sequences — Severin Films is releasing “The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1,” a compilation of 14 titles starring Bruce “impostors” like Ho Chung Tao, who went by the name Bruce Li, Ryong Keo (Dragon Lee), Chang Yi-tao (Bruce Lai) and Wong Kin-lung, who to this day goes by the name Bruce Le.

UK documentary specialist Dogwoof has boarded international sales on Oliver Stone’s Lula, ahead of its world premiere at Cannes, where it will receive a special screening.

Gersh is handling US rights on the project, which follows the story of Brazil’s beloved president Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, and his journey from the presidential palace to imprisonment for 19 months, and back again to regain the presidency in 2022.

The documentary, co-directed by Rob Wilson, features unprecedented access to Lula and his closest advisors through a series of interviews, revealing the inside story of ‘Operation Car Wash’ – a landmark anti-corruption probe...

Nora Arnezeder (“The Famous Five”) and Maria Bello (“A History of Violence”) are set to co-star in “Hell in Paradise,” a female-powered thriller inspired by a true story and produced by EuropaCorp’s Virginie Besson-Silla (“Dogman”).

Penned by Karine Silla (“A Butterfly Kiss”), “Hell in Paradise” revolves around Nina, a young French girl who leaves her native Marseille and accepts her first job as a receptionist at a luxurious hotel resort on a magnificent island of the Maldives, hoping for a better life. But when a tragedy befalls the hotel, Nina is propelled in a relentless spiral of lies and manipulations. Wrongly accused and sentenced to life in prison, she will have no other choice but to run between traps and escape this paradise turned into hell.

Arnezeder and Maria Bello star opposite Josephine de la Baume, Alyy Khan, Shubahm Saraf and Ranjit Krishnama. Gregoire Melin’s Kinology handles international...

Despite finding success as a screenwriter with films like Midnight Express and Scarface, the former of which earned him his first Oscar, Oliver Stone didn't truly become a household name until he directed back-to-back films in 1986. The tail end of the year saw the release of Platoon, Stone's semi-autobiographical Vietnam War film that earned him his second Oscar and grossed an impressive $137 million. But released earlier in the year was Salvador, an overlooked yet equally compelling glimpse into the past through a firsthand account of real-world events.

Mel Brooks was a producer on David Lynch's The Elephant, starring John Hurt. Brooks wisely remained uncredited in The Elephant Man to prevent confusion with his comedies. Hurt's iconic chest-bursting scene from Alien is humorously revisited in Spaceballs. Hurt collaborated with Brooks again for History of the World, and joked that he was underpaid.

Spaceballs has a unique connection to David Lynch through John Hurt. The 1987 spoof film has etched its place in the annals of comedic cinema and remains a quintessential parody, brilliantly mocking the sci-fi genre's titans, particularly the Star Wars saga. Directed by the legendary Mel Brooks, the movie is a humorous odyssey that follows the quest to save a galaxy from the oxygen-depleting plans of the nefarious Spaceballs. With its clever wit, the film not only lampoons the essence of space operas but also celebrates them, boasting a cast that includes Bill Pullman, John Candy,...

Ahmed El-Shenawi, the Egyptian-born actor whose character delightfully announces that a slithering helping of “snake surprise” is about to be served in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, has died. He was 75.

El-Shenawi died Feb. 1 in Chelsea, London, his daughter, Eman El-Shenawi, told The Hollywood Reporter. He had been in the hospital for an operation to repair a fracture and developed an infection that led to sepsis, she said.

El-Shenawi also portrayed a prisoner who inherits a radio in Alan Parker’s harrowing Midnight Express (1978), starring Brad Davis, and he had the pivotal role of the therapist who hypnotizes the detective (Michael Elphick) in The Element of Crime (1984) — Lars von Trier’s first feature and the first in his Europa trilogy. Both movies played at Cannes.

“I believe his brief but impactful moments of fame resonated so much among many,” his daughter said.

In Steven Spielberg’s Temple of Doom (1984), the extremely large El-Shenawi,...

Oof, "Madame Web." Critics have savaged the latest Spider-Manless Spider-Man spin-off from Sony Pictures (read /Film's review here). Unlike the Sydney Sweeney picture I'm actually looking forward to this year, "Madame Web" is not "Immaculate." It's a hackneyed joke that in bad movies of this sort, the best part is when the credits hit. In "Madame Web," that's doubly true because you'll get to hear some nice music: "Dreams" by The Cranberries.

Released in 1992, "Dreams" is the Irish band's debut single, part of their first album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?" Dolores O'Riordan, The Cranberries' late singer, and guitarist Noal Hogan wrote the song about the experience of love. O'Riordan's whimsical brogue becomes a melody played against the soft rock instrumentals from her bandmates. It's not just a great love song, but a song about how it feels to be in love: the floating excitement, how...

It doesn’t sound like Ryan Gosling and Oliver Stone are ever going to work together after these comments from the acclaimed director.

The four-time Oscar-winning filmmaker slammed Ryan for taking on the role of Ken in the movie Barbie, despite the actor receiving universal acclaim for his performance and getting tons of awards nominations.

Oliver was asked about the comments from a Mattel boss who jokingly said that he should direct Barbie 2.

Keep reading to find out more…

“Ridiculous,” he told CityAM. “Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that sh-t for money. He should be doing more serious films. He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood.”

Oliver continued, “Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy. Even the Fast and Furious movies, which I used to enjoy, have become like Marvel movies. I mean, how many crashes can you see?...

Oliver Stone has a lot of opinions about the current film industry and says movies like Barbie are contributing to the “infantilization of Hollywood.”

In an interview from June 2023, the filmmaker suggested Ryan Gosling shouldn’t have been involved in the Greta Gerwig film and instead focus on “more serious films.”

“Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that shit for money. He should be doing more serious films. He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy,” Oliver said in an interview with City Am.

Update: Oliver Stone Clears Up Resurfaced ‘Barbie’ Comments: “I Apologize For Speaking Ignorantly”

Stone took a shot at the Fast and Furious franchise as well, saying that he used to enjoy the films, but recently, they “have become like Marvel movies. I mean, how many crashes can you see?...

Long before he made Popeye Doyle race a Brooklyn subway and Regan MacNeil’s head spin, William Friedkin began his career doing live TV. He’d move on to an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, short documentaries, a Sonny-and-Cher joint (Good Times), theatrical adaptations (The Birthday Party, The Boys in the Band), and then an all-guts-all-glory double shot that instantly made him a New Hollywood power player. But like a lot of directors coming up in the early 1960s, his roots were with actors, words, conflict, and not much more.

Matteo Garrone’s talent for weaving stories out of the fabric of real events––especially those involving desperate or violent people––gets another airing in Io Capitano, an engrossing, visceral portrait of one young man’s brutal journey from Senegal to the coast of Italy. The director won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2008 for Gomorrah, his defining, excoriating portrait of the Camorra crime syndicate, and he performed the trick again ten years later in Dogman, inspired by a gruesome gangland murder in Rome. He’s also had success in comedies (Reality) and fantasy (Tale of Tales), but his new film is an epic embracing the defining issue of Italian politics right now––the flow of refugees crossing the Mediterranean heading for Europe––making a potentially abstract, no-less-urgent topic tactile and approachable.

The migrant crisis is having a moment this year in European cinema, with Agnieszka Holland’s recent Green Border,...

Before author J.K. Rowling — on whose book series the films are based — said some awful, unforgivable, transphobic things, the "Harry Potter" franchise hooked audiences around the world. As someone who used to stand outside bookstores for the midnight launches of "Harry Potter" books, I can tell you that I was totally hooked.

For those who weren't into the books, the craze must have seemed bananas. People wandering around Universal Studios Hollywood's Wizarding World in the hot California summers, dressed in polyester wizard robes, waving their wands at walls ... well, we all looked nuts. If you didn't love the series the way fans did, the budget alone for these films would make a person cringe.

British actor Sir John Hurt, who played wand shop owner Garrick Ollivander, had some rather disparaging things to say about how much money was spent on these films, though put in context, it makes sense.

You’re a wizard indeed–and only a wizard could work the sort of spell that was cast over children and adults all over the world beginning in the late ‘90s, turning the wildly successful Harry Potter books (we’re talking 120 million copies sold here) into one of the most profitable franchises ever.

With J.K. Rowling watching over the production diligently (sometimes to a fault), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone aka …Sorcerer’s Stone was a marvel of an adaptation. And what eventually arrived didn’t come from a burly half-giant, but rather a wide-eyed cast of newcomers, a visionary crew conjuring the proper vision and the guy who directed Adventures in Babysitting…

So put on your sorting hat and head for Platform 9 ¾ as we find out…Wtf Happened to this movie?!

The making of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone goes back to 1997, the same year the novel was published.

The superhero genre and action movies with great fight choreographies may be at the top of the box-office, but not everyone likes them. Sagas like John Wick or the Marvel Cinematic Universe are going through a great moment on the big screen, and even on television and streaming, but the more popular they get, the more critics they receive.

Several emblematic Hollywood directors such as Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino have been reluctant to the great fame that this type of productions have gained in recent years, calling these productions not memorable or more similar to an amusement park than a movie. And it seems that they keep gaining enemies.

In an interview with Variety, the director of the 80s classic Scarface Oliver Stone confessed that he is not a fan of movies like those starring Keanu Reeves as the famous assassin, or the Marvel Studios franchise:

“I saw John Wick 4 on the plane.

In his latest podcast/interview, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks to Pat Kelman, co-founder of 606 Distribution about new releases Love According To Dalva and The Old Man Movie: Lactopalypse! and “3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life”

Towering Inferno (1974) All That Jazz (1979) Midnight Express (1978)/Taxi Driver (1976) Double Bill

“3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life” is about those films that made you fall in love with film. The guest selects their trio of movies and we talk for 5 minutes, against the clock. When the alarm goes off for five minutes we move on to the next film.

Powered by RedCircle...

Tom Whitlock, who won a Best Song Oscar for co-writing the No. 1 smash ‘Take My Breath Away’ from Top Gun and also wrote the film’s other hit single “Danger Zone,” has died. He was 68.

Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home confirmed that he died February 18 in Gallatin, Tn. No cause was given.

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Born on February 20, 1954, in Springfield, Mo, Whitlock had been a longtime songwriter and performer without much success when he had a chance meeting with Giorgio Moroder in a Los Angeles recording studio. Whitlock told a story about the Italian composer complaining about the brakes on his Ferrari, leading the opportunistic lyricist to picking up some brake fluid and make the repairs.

Hugh Hudson, a British filmmaker who debuted as a feature director with the Oscar-winning Olympics drama “Chariots of Fire” and later made such well-regarded movies as “My Life So Far” and the Oscar-nominated “Greystoke,” has died at age 86.

Hudson’s family issued a brief statement announcing that he died Friday at a hospital in London “after a short illness.”

Read More: Cody Longo, ‘Days Of Our Lives’ And ‘Hollywood Heights’ Actor, Dead At 34

A London native, Hudson started out as a documentary editor and producer and also worked in television advertising before finding work in feature films in the late 1970s as a second-unit director on Alan Parker’s “Midnight Express”. In 1981, producer David Puttnam asked Hudson to direct “Chariots of Fire”, which starred Ben Cross and Nigel Havers as British athletes of contrasting religions and backgrounds at the 1924 Olympics.

With its inspirational plot and sentimental theme music by the Greek composer Vangelis,...

The Oscar-nominated British filmmaker Hugh Hudson has passed away. Famous for his documentary and advertising work, Hudson shot Chariots of Fire, one of the most celebrated films in British history, and Best Picture winner at the 1981 Oscars ceremony. Hudson was 86 when he passed away on Friday at Charing Cross hospital in London after a brief illness.

Hudson directed seven films throughout his career, including Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), Revolution, Lost Angels, and more. Hailed as a maker of lasting cinema, Hudson’s Revolution, starring Al Pacino, was a box office bomb, earning roughly 350,000 against a reported 29 million budget. The backlash left a lasting impression on Hudson and compelled Pacino to exit the acting scene for roughly four years.

Hudson cut his teeth as a second-unit director for filmmaker Alan Parker and producer David Puttnam on Midnight Express. Puttnam was impressed by Hudson’s keen eye...

Hugh Hudson, whose first feature directing effort Chariots of Fire won four Academy Awards including Best Picture, has died, according to a statement from his family obtained by the BBC. He was 86.

Hudson began his career making documentaries and television commercials, which he continued to do even after his big-screen breakthrough with Chariots of Fire. He worked alongside Alan Parker, Ridley Scott and Tony Scott for Ridley Scott Associates (Rsa). His first filmmaking job was as a second-unit director on Parker’s Midnight Express.

Vincent Canby wrote of Hudson’s Oscar-winning debut in 1981: “It’s to the credit of both Mr. Hudson and Mr. Welland [Colin Welland wrote the screenplay] that Chariots of Fire is simultaneously romantic and commonsensical, lyrical and comic. … It’s an exceptional film, about some exceptional people.”

Also deserving credit for the film’s lyricism was the late composer Vangelis, whom Puttnam had worked with...

Hugh Hudson, who came from the worlds of documentaries and advertising to make his feature directing debut on the stirring Oscar best picture winner Chariots of Fire, one of the most admired British films ever made, has died. He was 86.

Hudson died Friday at Charing Cross hospital in London after a short illness, his family told The Guardian newspaper.

Hudson helmed just seven features during his career. After earning an Oscar nomination for his 1981 masterpiece, he followed with the highly regarded Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). Starring Christopher Lambert, it was the first Tarzan feature to receive an Oscar nom (it landed three).

Up next for Hudson, however, was Revolution (1985), which starred Al Pacino as a fur trapper thrust into the American Revolutionary War. Made for a reported 28 million, it was a major bust, grossing just 350,000 in the U.S. Critics hammered Pacino, who left acting for about four years,...

(Welcome to Animation Celebration, a recurring feature where we explore the limitless possibilities of animation as a medium. In this edition: "Pink Floyd — The Wall.")

The first time I watched "Pink Floyd — The Wall" was also the first time I experimented with hallucinogenic drugs. A '90s kid to the core, I had heard countless stories from my parents and their friends about how life-changing it was to experience the film for the first time and I wanted a little taste of that. The joke's on me though, because I have aphantasia, and hallucinogens are one of the only ways folks like me can actually visualize with my eyes closed. Needless to say, I totally freaked out and had to lie down for what felt like approximately three days. Regardless, 10/10 would do again in a heartbeat.

"Pink Floyd — The Wall" is a dramatization of the legendary British rock band's eponymous concept album.

Chances are if you've seen an American war film in the last 30 years, the name Dale Dye might ring a bell. Dye is a former Marine captain whose brief cameos and appearances are peppered throughout action films like "Under Siege," "Mission: Impossible," "Starship Troopers," and "Saving Private Ryan." After his first onscreen appearance in Tobe Hooper's "Invaders from Mars," Dye played Captain Harris in Oliver Stone's semi-autobiographical war epic "Platoon." The concept of actor boot camps is nothing new, and the intense soldier training that goes on at these grueling sessions does tend to bond the players together. The experience can also add some verisimilitude that pays respect to the actual soldiers that had to go through actual boot camp. Dale Dye's actor boot camps are legendary in the business. Apparently, the one that Charlie Sheen and the other actors went through during the making of "Platoon" in 1986 was particularly brutal.

Click here to read the full article.

When buyers arrived at the 1987 edition of the American Film Market, one film was high on their shopping list: Platoon, writer-director Oliver Stone’s foray into the Vietnam War.

The film had taken years to reach the screen. Stone began the screenplay in the mid-’70s but could find no takers, although it did earn him a job penning the 1978 Turkish prison drama Midnight Express, for which he won his first Oscar. Eventually, Stone struck a deal with producer Dino De Laurentiis, agreeing to write the screenplay for Michael Cimino’s crime movie Year of the Dragon for less than his market rate if De Laurentiis would secure financing for him to direct Platoon. But when the veteran producer couldn’t find a distributor, John Daly of the British production company Helmdale came up with financing for the films Salvador and Platoon and signed Stone to direct both.

Click here to read the full article.

The Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia has named Oliver Stone its jury president and unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run Dec. 1-10 in Jeddah.

“Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone has been chosen to lead the jury of the Red Sea: Features Competition jury,” organizers said. “The three-time Academy Award winner is behind some of the all-time masterpieces of cinema, including Scarface, The Doors, Wall Street, JFK, Midnight Express, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Nixon and Natural Born Killers.”

The festival also unveiled its opening film: What’s Love Got to Do With It?, directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen), written by Jemima Khan and produced by StudioCanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Emma Thompson. “Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship,...

Long before Brian De Palma's "Scarface" became a pop cultural obsession for the hip-hop community, it was considered a commercial misfire and an artistic failure for its director. The modernized riff on Howard Hawks 1932 gangster classic was an epic of wretched excess. It was crass, bloated, and unremittingly gruesome. De Palma's most fervent critical defender, The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, titled her review "A De Palma Movie for People Who Don't Like De Palma Movies," and she had a point. The sprawling 170-minute film lacked the formal/thematic cohesion of his best work. It was more of a showcase for Al Pacino, who delved so deep into the role of Cuban gang lord Tony Montana that he never fully shed the character's verbal tics.

39 years later, "Scarface" is still a lot of movie. It's too much. Montana's downfall is uncomfortably distended. His arc is flat: he's a monster from...

English actor John Hurt had an illustrious acting career. In addition to four BAFTA wins, including a lifetime achievement award, he was nominated for two Academy Awards for his contributions to the films "Midnight Express" and "The Elephant Man." Although Hurt was introduced to a younger audience with his role as the elderly wand-maker Mr. Ollivander in the "Harry Potter" franchise, the actor is one of Britain's finest talents. In a career spanning half a century, Hurt witnessed the transformation of cinema — and particularly the evolution of British cinema, which was close to his heart.

The late actor, who starred in three "Harry Potter" films, sat down with Rotten Tomatoes before filming the fantasy adventure franchise's concluding movie. The performer explained how "Harry Potter" had highlighted his biggest concern over British Cinema and the industry's consistent ignorance toward middle-budget films.

'Our Film Business Is In The Independent World'

In a...

The set for Ridley Scott's 1979 film "Alien" was built differently from most sci-fi sets at the time. Looking over the cinematic and TV history of spacecraft interiors, one might find a set built for the bridge or command center, another for engineering or the engine room, perhaps an observation lounge, and maybe a few sleeping quarters. In the sci-fi films and TV shows wherein characters had to walk down hallways or corridors, filmmakers would often save space and time by filming them in the same corridor from several angles. Clever editing can make a 20-foot hallway look like it's several hundred feet. 

"Alien," in contrast, built a much more elaborate set. Constructed of old electronics and plane parts, the corridors of the mining craft Nostromo all interconnected, allowing for long, contemplative shots. This was in addition to the usual bridge/engineering/quarters sets. Also the large, elaborate alien space...

As a twice-wounded veteran of the Vietnam War, Oliver Stone had a solemn responsibility to drive home the savagery of this tragically misguided conflict to modern audiences via "Platoon." It had been a little over a decade since the last U.S. helicopter left Saigon, and the filmmaker wanted to make sure no one would forget the myriad of atrocities committed in America's name. This meant he had to place the highest of premiums on authenticity, from the locations down to the cast.

Given that the film was going to be a showcase for numerous young actors, Stone found himself inundated with hungry ingenues eager to make the leap to stardom. Though the higher ranking officers like Sargents Barnes and Elias would be played by more seasoned performers like Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe, their charges had to be fresh-faced kids who looked like they'd been plucked out of their...

Conan the Barbarian holds a special place in the history of cinema as the movie that effectively launched the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger and kickstarted a heady decade of sword and sorcery epics. Yet to writer Oliver Stone, two words will forever hang over John Milius’ rough-and-ready adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s proto comic book hero: What if.

Stone may have earned a writing credit on the finished film, but what ended up on the screen was a far cry of “Crom!” from what he had envisioned in the script he presented to producer Edward R. Pressman in 1978.

That screenplay was bold, brilliant, and, potentially, unfilmable. But to Stone at least those two words will linger on: What if. Pressman had recruited Stone amid the buzz surrounding his script for Midnight Express, the real-life story of the imprisonment and eventual escape of American national Billy Hayes from a Turkish prison,...

Bo Hopkins, the actor who has appeared in classics like “American Graffiti,” “The Wild Bunch,” “Midnight Express” and “The Getaway,” died Friday. He was 80 years old.

Hopkins’ death was confirmed on the actor’s official website.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that Bo has passed away,” reads a statement on the website. “Bo loved hearing from his fans from around the world and although he was unable to respond to every email over the last few years, he appreciated hearing from each and every one of you.”

The actor was born William Hopkins in Greenville, S.C. on February 2, 1942.. He later changed his name to “Bo” in reference to the character he played in “Bus Stop,” his first off-Broadway play. After his father died when he was only nine years old, Hopkins was raised by his mother and grandmother. He later learned he was an adopted child...

Bo Hopkins, who appeared in such memorable films as The Wild Bunch (1969), The Getaway (1972), American Graffiti (1973), The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973), Posse (1975), and Midnight Express (1978), has died at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys. He was 80 and had a heart attack.

Born William Hopkins in 1942 in Greenville, South Carolina, Hopkins appeared in more than 100 film and television roles in a career that spanned more than five decades.

He picked up the nickname “Bo” thanks to a character of the same name he played in Bus Stop, his first off-Broadway play.

Hopkins television appearances included The Phyllis Diller Show, The Virginian, Gunsmoke, The Wild Wild West and The Andy Griffith Show. His first shot at a regularly scheduled TV series came in 1973 in medical drama Doc Elliott, which lasted one season.

He also appeared in a number of made-for-television movies of the mid-1970s, including Judgment: The Court Martial of...

Hot French helmer Cedric Jimenez, whose latest hit movie “The Stronghold” is nominated for seven Cesar awards, is developing “Verde,” an epic adventure drama revolving around the kidnapping of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her campaign manager Clara Rojas, who were held captive in the jungle for seven years.

Inspired by a true story like all of Jimenez’s films, “Verde” opens in 2002, when Betancourt — a high-profile French-Colombian senator who was running for president and had vowed to end political corruption — was brutally kidnapped with her campaign manager, Rojas, by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). The pair were held hostage by the rebel group in the hostile jungle for nearly a decade, along with many other victims of Colombia’s civil war.

Jimenez is writing the script for “Verde” with Olivier Demangel, the co-screenwriter of Mati Diop’s Cannes’ grand prize winner “Atlantics” and Jimenez’s upcoming movie “November,...

‘Forest Whitaker macheted his thumb, Tom Berenger knifed his foot, Willem Dafoe got medivacked – and Oliver Stone jumped up and down with joy’

Charlie Sheen, played Chris Taylor

My brother Emilio Estevez and I were huge fans of Scarface and Midnight Express, which were both written by Oliver Stone. Emilio kept talking to me about Oliver’s new Vietnam film, which he was auditioning for. He got the lead part, Chris Taylor, but then couldn’t do it because of scheduling conflicts. When I auditioned, Oliver said I was “too mannered” and needed to do more work. So I did The Boys Next Door and Lucas – and I got the part, but only if Willem Dafoe approved. I didn’t meet Willem until we got to the Philippines. He ran past me in our hotel and gave me a hug. Later, Oliver came up to me and said: “Willem digs ya.

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There are plenty of juicy biographies and autobiographies about Hollywood’s biggest personalities in front of the camera, but just as dramatic — and sometimes even more so — are the ones that focus on the figures behind the scenes.

For those who enjoy delving deeper into filmmaking from the viewpoint of directors and screenwriters, we rounded up a list of memoirs to add to your reading list (or holiday gift list). This selection of memoirs from some of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, from pioneering Oscar winners to unsung figures and plenty in between, follows the making of specific films, explores the courses of entire careers, and even includes some instructional advice along the way.

Much like John Wick before it, Netflix's Gunpowder Milkshake offers glimpses and clues hinting towards a complex mythology far beyond what we see in the movie. And again, much like the pencil-wielding assassin, these elements could be explored in sequels, and while he has plenty of ideas for more, director, Navot Papushado, is patiently waiting to see audiences' reactions to the first movie before pressing ahead.

"My entire focus is on making sure people see it and love it and are passionate about it. Even when you write something that's such an incredible scene but there's no room for it, instead of forcing it, you're like, 'Okay, let's put it in the back pocket.' Then when you start working on [a follow-up], you have so many ideas. Even when you decide there's no room for it here, you're like, 'Okay, let's keep it aside.' Actually, if people are going...

Gunpowder Milkshake is a movie that lives up to its title. For starters, it looks like sugar, with its candy-like aesthetic – it’s a visual treat from director Navot Papushado and one of the all-time great cinematographers, Michael Seresin. Seresin shot several of filmmaker Alan Parker’s films, including Angel Heart, Midnight Express, and the joyous Bugsy Malone. To say Papushado […]

The post ‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ Director Navot Papushado on Taking Inspiration From Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Welcome to this week’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have the continued build toward Money In The Bank. I hope that this year’s version of Mitb is better than the one where they ran up a building. Superman: Shut up, nerd! Me: Eat Kryptonite, Super-Bitch! Superman: Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! Me: Yeah! Didn’t think of that, did you…smart mouth mother-f–ker?! Superman: Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Me: While Super-Bitch dies from touching a rock, let’s dive right into SmackDown. Superman: Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! Me: Take a salt tablet! Walk it off!

Match #1: Bayley/Seth Rollins b. Bianca Belair/Cesaro The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

Prior to their scheduled Mixed Tag Team Match, Seth Rollins & Bayley interrupted SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, leading to The Est of WWE and her emerging partner Cesaro to...